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Struggling with Triangulum Galaxy


mattytheshark

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I know I should definitely be able to see M33 the Triangulum Galaxy in my C9.25 but it remains elusive to me.

also tried to see rosette nebula and the California nebula without success. I would have thought I should be able to see them or am I expecting too much?

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M33 is notoriously tricky as it has very low surface brightness so really needs dark skies. Any light pollution will likely wash it out completely. What are your skies like?

My best views has been either with binoculars or a 4" apo and low power from a dark site in Dorset.

The other thing to bear in mind is the C925 has a long focal length which will not help with large, low brightness objects like these. Use lowest power and get to a dark site would be my advice.

Cheers

Stu

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Should be able to see the Triangulum Galaxy, can you locate Andromeda by eye?

Using the 2 stars in Andromeda to get to Andromeda you simply use the same 2 and go the other way by about the same amount, little bit more, and it should be there.

The California and Rosette you need dark skies as any light pollution will wipe them out. I suspect that this is the reason for them not being apparent. The Rosette nebula also has the Milky Way behind it that may not help. Any faint high wispy clould will also wipe them out.

I assume that the scope is accurately pointing at them as to not get M33 makes it sound as if the pointing is a bit out.

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I find M33 easier in binoculars than my 5" refractor. It is a large and quite diffuse galaxy, being nearly face on and so is relatively difficult. I would say it needs a sky with a VLM of close to magnitude 5 to be seen.

I have struggled with the Rosette, which is also quite large and diffuse.

The California nebula is very difficult. I have tried it overhead in a sky with a VLM of nearly 5.5 and still not seen it. One for the cameras really, though not impossible.

There are many visually brighter objects to observe. Try M78 in Orion if you haven't already seen it and perhaps NGC 2392 (the Eskimo nebula) in Gemini.

Happy hunting!

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Very low surface brightness Messier objects like M33 and M101 are DARK site only targets for me. I spent too much time hunting for them only to have sky glow hide them. All but the brightest emission nebulae fall in that category as well.

Happy hunting.

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk 2

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Yeah dark skies and no Moon are the best times to catch M33, I had the same issue and looked for M33 plenty of times from my garden. It wasn't until I was at a dark sky site and a knowledgeable member of my observing group helped us find it that I realised that it really wouldn't be possible from my garden. This was with bino's by the way, it really is a nice galaxy and it's big but it has such a low surface brightness its easily missed if you have any light pollution. :)

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

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I have seen The Triangulum Galaxy from my back garden wit the 10" dob. I have to say though that at the time I listed it as the dimmest Messier that I have viewed. About as elsive as the Crab nebula. I am looking forward to re observing some of these at a darker location sometime soon. Then I can see just how much of a beating my viewing gets from the various sources of LP in te area.

Dave.

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To echo Astralstoll it defo is one of the faintest (if not the faintest) messiers going. I found it relatively easily from my surburban garden easily enough (ok so I did have slightly more aperture to play with) but I found the trick to teasing it out is to look at the surround starfield and see where the contrast changes, you'll then see this sparkling blackness which is the object, it's low surface brightness kills this in all but the largest scopes.

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I have a semi rural location and on a clear night can just make out the Milky Way; last week I could see the M33 with the CPC925 but seeing was not that great (I didn't bother imaging due to the moisture); maybe as others have said it maybe your skies, but I have got a LP filter on my eyepiece for observing, maybe this helps a bit.

With regards to the Rosette and California I think these are really dim so you are unlikely to observe them?

One thing I have done in the past is to use my camera with a focusing exposure (ISO 25000 and 15 sec) to check I am in the right spot and then swap the camera for an eyepiece to see if anything is at all visible.

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Thanks for your very good advice. Would a focal reducer help or is that purely for AP?

I'm pretty sure the scope is accurately pointing at all targets; all others it found were right on the money.

I'm pretty sure it won't help for visual observing as it will just "un-zoom" the view. More FOV from a higher magnification scope.

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk 2

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I'm pretty sure it won't help for visual observing as it will just "un-zoom" the view. More FOV from a higher magnification scope.

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk 2

I have used my 0.63x focal reducer for visual in the past, before I got 2" EPs. The focal reducer does give you more FOV, so should help, if you only have 1.25" EPs. I have seen M33 from a dark site with my C8, but I think the best views were with my 80mm F/6 at 22x with the 22mm Nagler and a true FOV of 3.76 deg. This frames the nebula. From a dark site, the spiral structure became evident.

BTW, M33 may be difficult (though it is a naked eye object from a really dark site) the California Nebula is much harder.

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Pretty much impossible from my residence though I can find the definite location. I had to compare my view of local asterisms with pics of M33 on the web to pin it down. Definitely one for the dark site and at least I know how to navigate to it. Good luck!

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  • 1 month later...

I've only got it once from my edge of town garden, when the council turned off the streetlights. It was very obvious in both 15x75 bins and the 10 inch dob......amazing difference it's impossible to see with the streetlights on.

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The Rosette is not only possible but fairly easy if you have two things, a very dark site and a short focal length. Ideal, probably, is something like a 4 inch fast apo with O111 or UHC filter and wide EP. I first saw it this way in a Genesis and can see it also in our Pronto like this. Equally it's unmistakeble in 8X42 bins. You see a distinctive milkiness around the NGC2244 cluster without any filters. The Dob, with 2 metre focal length, has far too little field but the light grasp allows selected parts to be seen with an 0111 filter. Moving the scope helps them to pop out.

Olly

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